RDehaan237@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 10/29/01 7:41:56 AM, gmurphy@raex.com writes:
>
> << The idea that God influences the direction of evolution at the quantum
> level does differ from the idea of intervention at the classical level. >>
>
> George,
>
> A long time ago you wrote the above note. It seems to me that it makes
> little difference if we posit that God intervenes at the quantum level, or
> the classical level, or that he rides in on the wings of a storm. All of
> these are part of the natural order. The interface between God and creation,
> no matter how small or how great, is still _terra incognito_, isn't it? In
> that regard it seems to me that constantly acting providence is as hard to
> explain in scientific terms as is the miracle of turning water into wine.
>
> So what is the advantage of a quantum level explanation?
I don't remember the context in which I set the above sentence. There is
a difference, however, simply because classical & quantum explanations of events
are quite different. & if God acts in cooperation with natural processes then
our understanding of divine action will be influenced by our understanding of
natural processes. See my parallel post on the "Ruest Reponse" thread.
The basic theological question, however, is whether God does act in
cooperation with natural processes, or whether God acts directly all the time.
I.e., are creatures genuine secondary causes of events in the world or not? If
they are, and IF (the critical assumption of a kenotic view of divine action) God
limits his action to what is within the capacity of created agents, then our
understanding of what natural processes can do will help us to understand further
what God does.
The "advantage of a quantum level explanation" IMO is that it attempts to
fill two "gaps" at once - our lack of understanding of how definite results of
measurements come about in QM and our lack of understanding of how some crucial
evolutionary phenomena take place. But as I indicate in my parallel response to
Peter R, there are also problems with this approach.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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